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彼得·M·赫弗德(Peter M. Herford)，美国哥伦比亚广播公司(CBS)前新闻副总裁、汕头大学长江新闻与传播学院教授及香港大学新闻与传播研究中心客座教授。彼得主要从事国际新闻和影视传播等方面的研究，在哥伦比亚广播公司从业达27年。他坚持每天读五份英文报纸的电子版，广泛的阅读，让他对中国的诸多变化了如指掌。
他给中国学生的建议是——多出去走走。随着中国的日渐富强，年轻人外出的机会会逐渐增多，把握好这个时机，必将对我们个人乃至中国的未来发展产生无可估量的影响。当被问及美国学生能从中国学生身上学到什么的时候，好像早已有答案的他旋即说了以下这番话：
Editor: What do you think American students can learn from Chinese students?
Peter: How to work. Very simple. How to work. By comparison the American students I know are 1)relatively, relatively lazy. More than relatively lazy, very lazy. Part of this is family. Part of this is culture.
Education is valued so highly in China. You’ve all experienced it, I’m sure, from your homes. The pressure from home to be a good student, to do well, is 2)enormous. Now it’s not that American, or other foreign families, do not say “Be a good student and go.” But the pressure is simply different.
Best example I know is:I was at one point being considered for a job at Berkeley, at the University of California at Berkley. And in the interview process I had occasion to meet the 3)Chancellor, the Head of the University. And I had not been on the Berkeley campus in about 10 or 15 years.
And I said to him, I said, “The biggest change I see is the number of Asians you have on this campus.” Which at that point, was about 40 % of the Berkeley population was Asian. And he started laughing, and I said, “What’s so funny?”
He said, “You know, if we played really by the rules of 4)admission, this would be a 100 % Asian campus.”
Well, today it’s about a 60 or 70 % Asian campus. That tells you all you need to know about how hard Asians work on education. And that simply has to do with 5)discipline. That really has to do with discipline. That begins in the home. That begins with the family. And even if children are 6)resistant to family, youknow,“Enough already, I don’t want to work so hard,” they still do it, ’cause they want to keep peace in the family.
Editor: That’s probably because most Chinese students are shy when they’re in a different language environment, and choose to study hard in the back of the classroom, instead of speaking out, it helps them get good grades.
Peter: Yeah, but it also has to do with competition. And that is, that in a country this size, the competition for jobs is so powerful, and the students all know, again because of the way the system operates, that if you come from one of the national universities, one of the best universities, and you have a good record, your chance of getting a better job is better.
That’s not necessarily true outside of China. Outside of China the process of hiring people is much more an individual process. That is, there are many companies, many industries that have a particular kind of employee in mind. And that may not be the best student. That may not be the student from the top university. They’re more interested in not only looking at the paper record of who you are, but they’re interested in talking to you and getting a feel for who you are.
I find here, because of the problem of the numbers, the system has been so 7)regimented that you have to go by the numbers. And I think the unfortunate thing is many Chinese students, who may not be good at taking examinations, for instance. And there are people like that. They’re very, very good students. They have good minds, but they’re not good at examinations. They get lost in the system. And you’re losing talent that way.
And this is particularly true, going back the question of the arts and artists. Very often creative people are not good classical students, in the sense of being good at examinations, and good at getting grades. They may work very hard, but their minds work differently. Their minds do not work by getting answers to questions. They think differently. And that, I think, is one of the reasons there’s a slower progress in the creative area.
小编：您觉得美国学生可以向中国学生学习些什么？
彼得：如何用功。非常简单，就是如何用功。相对来说，我所认识的美国学生比较懒惰。不仅仅是比较，应该是非常懒惰。一部分是由于家庭因素，另一部分则是因为文化的原因。
在中国，教育被高度重视。我相信你们从自己的家庭中已经体验到这一点。“做一名好学生，表现出色”--这种来自家庭的压力是非常巨大的。现在并非说美国或任何一个外国的家庭就不提倡“做个好学生并奋发前进”。但这种压力根本上是不同的。
举个我知道的最好的例子：加州大学伯克利分校曾考虑过聘用我。在面试的过程中，我刚好见到了该校的校长。那时我已经有10-15年没踏足伯克利校园了。
我告诉他：“学校最大的改变就是亚洲学生增多了。”当时，伯克利分校里约40%的学生都是亚洲人。他开始大笑，我就问：“这有什么好笑的？”
他说：“你知道吗，如果我们严格按照规定录用学生，那么学校里百分之百都会是亚洲学生。”
现在这所学校里约60%-70%是亚洲学生。这可以说明亚洲人在学习上有多刻苦。这与教养有关，真的与教养有关。这先从家里，从家庭开始。就算是那些对抗家庭意见的孩子，认为“已经够了，我不想那么努力学习”的孩子，还是会勤奋去学习的，因为他们不想家无宁日。
小编：那很可能是因为大部分中国学生处于不一样的语言环境时都较内向，因而会选择埋头苦读，而非大胆直言，那样有助于他们取得好成绩。
彼得：没错，不过这与竞争也有关系。就是，在一个这么大的国家里，找工作的竞争如此之大，以致于每个学生都认识到，在这种体制的作用下，如果你来自一间国家级大学，最好的大学之一，而你有好的成绩，那么得到好工作的机会也就更大。
这种情况在中国以外却不一定如此。在其它国家，招聘过程更着重于看你的个人。也就是说，许多公司，很多行业，都有自己的一套员工录用标准。他们要找的员工不一定是最好的学生，也不一定来自最好的大学。他们感兴趣的不仅仅是你的一纸文凭，他们更倾向于和你交谈而去了解你是个怎样的人。
我发现，在中国，由于人口巨大，这个体制相当严格，不得不以分数为标准了。但不幸的是，很多中国学生可能并不擅长考试。真的有这样的人，他们是非常非常优秀的学生，他们有好的思维，但不擅长考试。他们在这种体制中迷失了方向，而人才也因此而流失。
这种情况在艺术类学科和艺术家身上尤其明显。有创意的人往往不是传统意义上考好试，拿高分的好学生。他们可能也非常努力学习，但他们的思维方式却是不同的。他们的思维并不向取得问题答案的方向运转，他们有不同的想法。由此，我认为这也是为什么中国在创意方面发展相对较缓慢的原因之一。
翻译：蔚然
他给中国学生的建议是——多出去走走。随着中国的日渐富强，年轻人外出的机会会逐渐增多，把握好这个时机，必将对我们个人乃至中国的未来发展产生无可估量的影响。当被问及美国学生能从中国学生身上学到什么的时候，好像早已有答案的他旋即说了以下这番话：
Editor: What do you think American students can learn from Chinese students?
Peter: How to work. Very simple. How to work. By comparison the American students I know are 1)relatively, relatively lazy. More than relatively lazy, very lazy. Part of this is family. Part of this is culture.
Education is valued so highly in China. You’ve all experienced it, I’m sure, from your homes. The pressure from home to be a good student, to do well, is 2)enormous. Now it’s not that American, or other foreign families, do not say “Be a good student and go.” But the pressure is simply different.
Best example I know is:I was at one point being considered for a job at Berkeley, at the University of California at Berkley. And in the interview process I had occasion to meet the 3)Chancellor, the Head of the University. And I had not been on the Berkeley campus in about 10 or 15 years.
And I said to him, I said, “The biggest change I see is the number of Asians you have on this campus.” Which at that point, was about 40 % of the Berkeley population was Asian. And he started laughing, and I said, “What’s so funny?”
He said, “You know, if we played really by the rules of 4)admission, this would be a 100 % Asian campus.”
Well, today it’s about a 60 or 70 % Asian campus. That tells you all you need to know about how hard Asians work on education. And that simply has to do with 5)discipline. That really has to do with discipline. That begins in the home. That begins with the family. And even if children are 6)resistant to family, youknow,“Enough already, I don’t want to work so hard,” they still do it, ’cause they want to keep peace in the family.
Editor: That’s probably because most Chinese students are shy when they’re in a different language environment, and choose to study hard in the back of the classroom, instead of speaking out, it helps them get good grades.
Peter: Yeah, but it also has to do with competition. And that is, that in a country this size, the competition for jobs is so powerful, and the students all know, again because of the way the system operates, that if you come from one of the national universities, one of the best universities, and you have a good record, your chance of getting a better job is better.
That’s not necessarily true outside of China. Outside of China the process of hiring people is much more an individual process. That is, there are many companies, many industries that have a particular kind of employee in mind. And that may not be the best student. That may not be the student from the top university. They’re more interested in not only looking at the paper record of who you are, but they’re interested in talking to you and getting a feel for who you are.
I find here, because of the problem of the numbers, the system has been so 7)regimented that you have to go by the numbers. And I think the unfortunate thing is many Chinese students, who may not be good at taking examinations, for instance. And there are people like that. They’re very, very good students. They have good minds, but they’re not good at examinations. They get lost in the system. And you’re losing talent that way.
And this is particularly true, going back the question of the arts and artists. Very often creative people are not good classical students, in the sense of being good at examinations, and good at getting grades. They may work very hard, but their minds work differently. Their minds do not work by getting answers to questions. They think differently. And that, I think, is one of the reasons there’s a slower progress in the creative area.
小编：您觉得美国学生可以向中国学生学习些什么？
彼得：如何用功。非常简单，就是如何用功。相对来说，我所认识的美国学生比较懒惰。不仅仅是比较，应该是非常懒惰。一部分是由于家庭因素，另一部分则是因为文化的原因。
在中国，教育被高度重视。我相信你们从自己的家庭中已经体验到这一点。“做一名好学生，表现出色”--这种来自家庭的压力是非常巨大的。现在并非说美国或任何一个外国的家庭就不提倡“做个好学生并奋发前进”。但这种压力根本上是不同的。
举个我知道的最好的例子：加州大学伯克利分校曾考虑过聘用我。在面试的过程中，我刚好见到了该校的校长。那时我已经有10-15年没踏足伯克利校园了。
我告诉他：“学校最大的改变就是亚洲学生增多了。”当时，伯克利分校里约40%的学生都是亚洲人。他开始大笑，我就问：“这有什么好笑的？”
他说：“你知道吗，如果我们严格按照规定录用学生，那么学校里百分之百都会是亚洲学生。”
现在这所学校里约60%-70%是亚洲学生。这可以说明亚洲人在学习上有多刻苦。这与教养有关，真的与教养有关。这先从家里，从家庭开始。就算是那些对抗家庭意见的孩子，认为“已经够了，我不想那么努力学习”的孩子，还是会勤奋去学习的，因为他们不想家无宁日。
小编：那很可能是因为大部分中国学生处于不一样的语言环境时都较内向，因而会选择埋头苦读，而非大胆直言，那样有助于他们取得好成绩。
彼得：没错，不过这与竞争也有关系。就是，在一个这么大的国家里，找工作的竞争如此之大，以致于每个学生都认识到，在这种体制的作用下，如果你来自一间国家级大学，最好的大学之一，而你有好的成绩，那么得到好工作的机会也就更大。
这种情况在中国以外却不一定如此。在其它国家，招聘过程更着重于看你的个人。也就是说，许多公司，很多行业，都有自己的一套员工录用标准。他们要找的员工不一定是最好的学生，也不一定来自最好的大学。他们感兴趣的不仅仅是你的一纸文凭，他们更倾向于和你交谈而去了解你是个怎样的人。
我发现，在中国，由于人口巨大，这个体制相当严格，不得不以分数为标准了。但不幸的是，很多中国学生可能并不擅长考试。真的有这样的人，他们是非常非常优秀的学生，他们有好的思维，但不擅长考试。他们在这种体制中迷失了方向，而人才也因此而流失。
这种情况在艺术类学科和艺术家身上尤其明显。有创意的人往往不是传统意义上考好试，拿高分的好学生。他们可能也非常努力学习，但他们的思维方式却是不同的。他们的思维并不向取得问题答案的方向运转，他们有不同的想法。由此，我认为这也是为什么中国在创意方面发展相对较缓慢的原因之一。
翻译：蔚然